Dr Jeremy Farrar, Director of Wellcome
said: “This virus is spreading at unprecedented
scale with cases passing between people in multiple countries
across the world. We know this is going to be challenging to
control, but many unknowns and uncertainties remain.
“Accelerating research to build this knowledge and inform
the global response is critical to protecting health, saving
lives and ending this epidemic. Wellcome is pledging up to £10m
to support urgently needed research.
“We need to understand how the virus spreads and who is
most at risk, what the most effective public health measures are,
as well as developing diagnostics, treatments and vaccines. These
must be available to everyone.
“Wellcome is partnering with researchers, other funders,
governments, including the UK Government, the World Health
Organization, and many others working tirelessly on the epidemic
response to understand where our support will be best placed and
to ensure an equitable approach.
“This epidemic will challenge the best
resourced countries but will have disproportionate
impact on fragile health systems in low- and middle-income
countries.
“This has been declared an international emergency. We must
take the threat posed by this virus very seriously and must work
together as an international community to ensure no one is left
behind.”
- Wellcome and UK
Department For International Development (DFID) have an existing
partnership through the Joint Initiative on Research for Epidemic
Preparedness to help developing countries prepare for and tackle
epidemics.
- Further information on
the research areas this funding will support will be made
available in the coming days.
